This invention relates, in general, to semiconductor components, and more particularly, to methods of manufacturing semiconductor components and polyimide etchants therefor.
Polyimide layers are less porous than traditional dielectric layers such as silicon nitride layers, silicon oxy-nitride layers, and silicon dioxide layers. Therefore, a polyimide layer is suitable as a final passivation layer over semiconductor devices forming an integrated circuit. Furthermore, polyimide layers are photo-definable while the traditional dielectric layers are not photo-definable. Therefore, the deposition and patterning of polyimide layers requires fewer processing steps than the deposition and patterning of the traditional dielectric layers, which require the formation of an additional etch mask layer.
However, after a polyimide layer is patterned and cured, it is very difficult to remove the polyimide layer. In fact, those skilled in the art consider a patterned polyimide layer to be a permanent or non-removable layer. Therefore, if there are defects in a patterned polyimide layer, the resulting semiconductor components must be scrapped or discarded because the polyimide layer cannot be reworked or salvaged. It is very costly to scrap the semiconductor components after forming the polyimide layer because the polyimide layer is formed near the end of the manufacturing process.
Accordingly, a need exists for a method of manufacturing a semiconductor component that uses a polyimide layer and a polyimide etchant therefor.